WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — This month, Rachel Carroll and Michelle Matt will walk down the aisle to the sounds of Caribbean steel drum music. Once they are under the chuppah, or wedding canopy, a rabbi will read passages from the Torah and instruct Matt, who is Trinidadian, to step on glass, a custom in Carroll’s Jewish faith.

Later, at the San Francisco reception, guests will nibble on Trinidad Black Cake, a fruit cake made with rum. The cake will be inscribed with a verse from Corinthians, representing Matt’s Baptist roots.

Planning a wedding is hard enough with one set of traditions. When a couple comes from different cultural or religious backgrounds, however, they must integrate both of their traditions into their special day. Some cross-cultural couples get particularly creative, blending traditions with help from family and wedding planners. Ultimately, though, they follow their own sensibilities to select the rituals that resonate the most with them and represent their style as partners.

Matt and Carroll, who’ve been together for four years, had much of that figured out before their engagement. “The wedding is really the culmination of having had those conversations and celebrated cultural events together already,” Carroll says.

Wedding planner Marilyn Ambra says communication is key when navigating a couple through their nuptials. She asks about their extended families, the traditions they grew up with, and reassures parents and family members on both sides that their cultural expectations will be met, she says. She also tries to make sure both sides are represented in the ceremony.

“We tell couples not to shy away from the concept of blending the two cultures,” Ambra says. “A unique celebration can be created that is very personalized, respectful, and represents both values and beliefs. And that’s so vital.”

This summer Raziel Ungar and Hava Tabari are getting married in a Calistoga wedding that is a one-of-a-kind tapestry of their colorful roots. The son of a rabbi, Ungar grew up Jewish and remains active in his faith. Tabari, who is half Jewish and half Persian, was raised with cultural elements from both.

The Friday before the wedding, they will unite their families with a Persian-catered Shabbat dinner. Before the Jewish wedding ceremony, when they sit down to sign their Jewish marriage license, Tabari’s aunts will perform an ancient Persian wedding ritual. While two people hold a stretch of lace over the couple’s heads, the aunts will grind over it large sugar cones, signifying sweetness in marriage.

There will also be a sofreh-ye aghd, an elaborate tablecloth of items such as eggs, spices, and wild rue that symbolize elements of good fortune.

Tabari says the extra research has added an element of family bonding. “It’s a way to share with each other where we come from, and it’s an excuse to spend time talking to my aunts and find out what they did at their weddings.”

Ada Chen is Chinese, fiancee Sachin Rekhi Indian. “We had to figure out how to blend the two to meet our style,” says Chen.

This month, Chen and Rekhi will get married in two ceremonies that require five wardrobe changes between them.

They’ll start under the draped mundap, or wedding altar, where they will exchange garlands, symbolizing their acceptance of one another. A pandit, or priest, will chant Vedic hymns and light the ceremonial fire into which Chen and Rekhi will make offerings of ghee and samagri to invoke peace and harmony. Finally, they will walk the seven steps around the sacred fire seeking the blessing of Lord Vishnu.

After, Chen will change into a white, beaded Henry Roth wedding gown. Rekhi will trade his gold-trimmed sherwani for a tuxedo and the couple will emerge for their second “I do,” in a traditional American ceremony.

Chen will then change into a fitted, Mandarin-collared dress, as the two enter the Brazilian Room as husband and wife.

That’s not the end of it. The following week, Chen and Rekhi will fly to New York for another reception and the bridal mehndi, or henna ornamentation.

It might sound overwhelming, but Chen and her fiance see the wedding as a reflection of not just their union, but also of their two families, she says.

“It’s important that the day reflects and pays homage to both sides,” she says. “Since culture is so integral to who we are, it was just a natural fit for us to make our wedding into this unique blend.”